Comments on: Epic Win: Wall Ball

By: Laviee

Laviee — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:08:54 +0000

We called it wall ball too. The playground even had special walls for it. We don’t do the “pelt whoever got out with a tennis ball though. Usually it’s the oldest on the playground who has the tennis ball, and because they’re the oldest, they’re the coolest. Everyone always wanted to play with them, so there are always lots of people wanting to play. Who go out simply had to line up and wait for their turn to play again. I think we had the rule of six people on the court at the time. Also you couldn’t hit above the white line or below the lower white line. The bottom one is about knee height, and the higher one is maybe… About 2 metres? Other than that, the rules are about the same as everyone has already described. When the pe teacher said we were gonna play it a few weeks ago, I totally didn’t get the pelt people with a tennis ball part. Well, that’s after I moved to canada though, so yeah.

By: AMA

AMA — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:20:50 +0000

oh, and we’d play too at a time, and once someone missed, the next person in line played the winner.

In 6th grade, no one played wall ball anymore. It was all about foursquare.

By: AMA

AMA — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:18:56 +0000

I remember there was a time in 5th grade when everyone lined up to play wall ball every recess. Before we started, everyone would agree on what sort of hits were legal “pockets”, “waterfalls”, and “chinese” were all up for contention.

Once I beat a hot-shot kid who took wall ball way too seriously and he hit me in the face really hard with the wall ball in retaliation. He got sent to the principle.

By: steve

steve — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:44:23 +0000

throw ball against the wall, if ball is caught off the wall you get an out.
if you bobble the ball or throw it short, you much touch the wall before the ball does or you get an out. 3 outs and you are out till the end.

alt. “buts up”
if you get three outs, stand facing the wall. the last person to get an out on you throws from about 10 ft away to peg you. If you are hit, you’re out for the game

By: sykosis

sykosis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:16:22 +0000

yeah same. lots of fun!

By: jsuth

jsuth — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:31:37 +0000

there is a difference between wallball and handball. we didnt have bounce rules. just had to hit it over a certain part of the wall

By: Quagga

Quagga — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:46:29 +0000

We did that too, only it was a raquetball and without the gloves. One bounce.

By: Geezer 1948

Geezer 1948 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:55:05 +0000

I remember Wally-ball (Wallie-ball?) as Edward does…same rules as volley ball but there was no “out.” Side and back walls were all playable, unless of coure, the ball hit the ground.
I also rememeber something we called “battle-ball” which essentially had the same rules as “dodge-ball” (which I don’t see mentioned here), but the balls were somewhere between the size of a tennis balll and a 12-inch softball.

By: Fayt

Fayt — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:30:50 +0000

Ha ha! I called this Redass back when I played it.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:17:34 +0000

thats how we played it at our school just not with gloves

By: wannes

wannes — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:55:26 +0000

we even played it in Belgium this way think we called it smashen, long time since I saw this game

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:41:22 +0000

What the hell that is me in that video… I was the one in the brown. Thats hella weird. and in Northern California we play Wall Ball and Butt Ball. This video is wall ball and Butt Ball is played with a small rubber ball that you have to throw directly at the wall with out letting it hit the ground. if it hits the ground after you touch it, before you touch the wall, then you get a letter and you spell BUTTBALL.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:15:33 +0000

We called it Wall Ball, but our rules were way more complicated. There were rules about hopping on one foot and bouncing the ball twice before catching and alot of other nonsense. I think it was mainly a way for the nerds to beat out the jocks, beacause only the nerdiest of nerds could ever remember all of the rules.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:08:20 +0000

rkofg

By: PH

PH — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:37:26 +0000

i love this game its hella sick

By: RoflOnMyWaffle

RoflOnMyWaffle — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:20:48 +0000

I remember those days when I was running to the wall praying to dear God that I live to see another day. No kid wanted to go down with a blow to the head.

By: Donger

Donger — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:08:53 +0000

i also agree with this. also, you could play “elimination” where it was a free-for-all, or you could play singles or doubles. one of the nifty innovations was that you could play doubles but call “life”, in which you play as a team of 1 but if you get out you have another “life” to play. don’t forget “pops” where the ball hits the ground and the wall at the same time, this usually resulted in do-overs.

By: Donger

Donger — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:04:50 +0000

couldn’t have put it better myself.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:43:51 +0000

We had two wall-ball-type games, one was simply called “handball”. It was played outside with a blue racquetball. The players would be given titles of ace, king, queen etc. The ace bounces the ball against the wall and the king bounces it back, etc until someone misses and gets an out, and moves to the end of the queue. We also had optional rules. One was, before bouncing the ball back to the wall, you could hit it up in the air to set up a shot. For some reason this was called a “chinese”. The other optional rule was the same as a chinese, but then letting the ball drop to the ground before taking the shot, called a “drop”.
The other popular game was called “suicide”. Also played with a racquetball. This is the game where if you touch the ball without catching it you had to run and touch the wall or else get pegged.

By: lala

lala — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:01:56 +0000

i believe we called it “red butt” at my school

By: Doker

Doker — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:38:32 +0000

our wall ran along the handicap ramp so you had to leap up and over the 3″x6″ lip to get to the wall, depending on you place on the wall the ramp was of course higer.

By: Doker

Doker — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:32:58 +0000

Similar rules at my school… but used a red rubber ball. If while on the wall you were able to catch the ball you could come back down. And Suicide was a term used… But don’t recall how.

By: andy

andy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:38:22 +0000

That’s what we called it, too.

By: doug

doug — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:35:57 +0000

We called it ‘handball’. Which sounds oddly sexual on reflection. Also, there was a rule that if you smashed someone in the back with the ball you automatically win.

By: Glowing Monkeys

Glowing Monkeys — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:53:46 +0000

We played with similar rules, except that we used a raquetball and no glove. Also if you threw the ball and it bounced bthen hit the wall, you got yourself out. Sometimes there were three outs before getting pelted. You had to get the ball after someone else threw it and it rebounded off the wall, and throw it from where you were standing. If you dropped it or it hit you and then the ground, you had to run for it. Sometimes one person would drop it and then whoever went to get them out would drop it and there would be multiple people running for the wall. Good times.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:31:14 +0000

In our school its called watermelon. You use one of those medium kickballs, but weve also played with anything from beach balls to superballs. You have to hit the ball at the wall, essentially the same as in the game, but you can also watermelon it. A watermelon is when the ball goes over your head, or you duck under it, and call watermelon. This automatically makes it the next persons turn.

By: Kydkaos

Kydkaos — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:53:12 +0000

These are the exact rules we had too. You left out one vital part. Once you touch the ball, by either catching it or scooping it up, you cant take anymore steps and must throw it from where you stand. This is where TAG UPS (throwing to a relay man) would come into play if you at a horrid angle or way too far away for a 9yo. lol.

If you played with people that wanted you hurt it was a better idea to try to make the awkward throw than rely on their relay catch as they would miss it on purpose leaving you out to the wolves.(The way we played both people involved in the relay had to touch the wall before the ball beat them there or it was a “stitch” / “strike”)

By: Brophyprep

Brophyprep — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:26:30 +0000

This was played with a racket ball

By: Brophyprep

Brophyprep — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:24:17 +0000

Played in highschool with a group of 10 or so people before it got crazy to an upwards of 20 or more people in a round.

1) If the ball is heading in your direction you must make an attempt to snag it (No ducking/avoiding)

2) If your attempt at the ball ends in a failure and you drop it/hits your body/you avoided it, you must run to the wall before another player grabs the ball and throws it at the wall.

3) If you touch the wall during a dropped ball before a player is able to throw the ball to the wall, you are safe. If you are unable to make it to the wall in time, you are out for the round.

4) If your attempt at the ball ends in failure AND your body hits the ball AGAIN after the ball bounces off the ground, you are put up against the wall to ‘assume the position’ and will be pelted by a player (1 throw). The game resumes after the hit as if the person was the wall.

5) If the ball is caught before it bounces after hitting the wall, the person who threw it is out.

By: faerygirl956

faerygirl956 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:46:51 +0000

We called it handball. We played exactly like they did in the video, but outside, against the gym wall. We always used a big red ball, although some people did play butts up with a tennis ball.
We always hit the ball, usually with a fists, it was against the rules to throw it. It had to bounce before it hit the wall and bounce before you could hit it. We always had things like “White Magic” and “Black Magic” which was alternative to hitting the ball back against the wall. If you called “white magic” you ran your hand over the ball after it had bounced off the wall the first time, and it became the other player’s turn, which basically meant they had to run really fast as it bounced away. “Black magic was the same idea, but using your foot inside of your hand. We also had underdoggies, where you ran under the ball instead of hitting and touched the wall, again turning the ball over to the other player.

By: SaintBastard

SaintBastard — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:34:47 +0000

Played a somewhat brutal version of this game in a narrow auditorium. We used both walls and everyone that wanted to play brought a tennis ball. Standard, no bounce rules. You could outright peg someone with a ball, but if that ball touched the ground before hitting a wall (even after bouncing off of someones head), you were fair game and everyone with a ball was expected to peg you as you ran for the wall farthest from you. If you bounced or dropped any of the 10-15 balls in play, you were fair game. If you were throwing at someone who was making a run for the wall and hit the ground instead, you were fair game.

The winner was the last one to quit.

By: Flowsen

Flowsen — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:25:55 +0000

We played a soccer version of this, where you had to kick the ball (obviously a soccer ball). Also we played it with points. There was a Wall with windows to look throuh to the other side of the it and a door to walk through. In the beginning you had a certain amount of Points, if you managed to shoot through the window, you earned a point but if you shot through the door you lost one. You also lost a point if the Ball reached a wall in the back. If you shot over the wall, you were instantly out, but if you hit a small light located on top of the wall and the ball came back to the game field, you intantely won.

By: blahman

blahman — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:36:40 +0000

We still do at my old school.

By: nEtt1k

nEtt1k — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:59:07 +0000

That game with the tennis ball is not wall ball, it was called Butt’s Up where i live because if you don’t touch the wall before someone throws the ball at it, you were supposed to stand with your face to the wall and they throw the ball at your butt.

Wallball (or handball) i played a ton of and the general rules were fairly simple. We would play with those red rubber balls or a volleyball generally, and the ball needs to hit the ground, then the wall when you swing at it. You can either let the ball bounce once, or take it on the fly after it comes off the wall to you. The main way to win was by ’slicies’ where you hit the ball as low to the ground as possible, even putting some spin on it so it goes straight to the ground.

By: UWM

UWM — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:46:27 +0000

well we used to call it “suicide” its the same concept but i think how we played it was more brutal than any of those.
the object of the game was everybody would stand away from the wall, we would have atleast 5 to 10 people playing, if not more. whoever had the ball threw it against the wall, so once the ball would bounce off the wall somebody else would attempt to catch it and throw it back against wall. ok this is where it gets bad. if the person attempting to catch it touches the ball but it falls to the ground, thats when everybody would start punching the person, i mean full swings here, until got up to the wall and touched it. this is the same rule, if you throw the ball and miss the wall, or if you get hit with the ball. one big rule was if the person fell down, you could not kick them or punch them. and also no hitting in the face. thats how we played in elementary and middle school

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:13:35 +0000

Wall ball at my school was
- throw the ball at the wall.
- catch it when it comes back.
- if you fumble it and touch it without holding it, you got pegged with the ball until you touched the wall.
Another way we played was called carilla (ca-ree-ah pronunciation. It’s a Spanish word)
Instead of getting pegged with the ball, all the players beat the shot out of you until you touched the wall.

By: Sunshine

Sunshine — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:00:58 +0000

We call it Buttball, too! Only, we didn’t have the spelling rule, you just had to get “out”. I know all the schools here still play it, and all the versions are very similar. I know it was extremely complex, and I had only played it a few times because girls playing was frowned upon, don’t know why. It’s the 21st century, for gawd sakes.

I will also never understand why Catholic schools, who wouldn’t let us touch the snow at recess for fear we’d throw snowballs and kill eachother, were perfectly fine with this game.

By: txcomanche

txcomanche — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:10:55 +0000

When I played wall ball in school, we used a tennis ball, and you had to catch it on the first bounce. We didn’t use gloves. We did however, use a wet tennis ball. If you missed the ball you had to run like hell for the ball. If someone hit the wall with the ball before you could touch the wall, then you had to assume the position. This usually entailed standing facing the wall like you were being frisked by cops. Then, everyone got a chance to hit you one time each with the ball, throwing it as hard as they could. I usually went home with a lot round bruises, and round mud stains on the back of my shirts. My mom never could understand WHY this game was so much fun.

By: Wasp

Wasp — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:45:20 +0000

The playground is a cruel cruel mistress.

By: Wasp

Wasp — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:44:19 +0000

I dunno how many times we’d get a tennis ball stuck on the roof and then tag someone to bring the next one. We kept having to move our game place though. The kids who played football would always yell at us to move and so would the teachers.
The rules were so fun. Every so often you’d yell out “Wall ball, no tag backs!”
My favorite was to chuck it at someone’s back then make a run for it to the wall.

By: Oso

Oso — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:08:15 +0000

We called it butt-ball cos you threw a tennis ball and if you failed to catch it when it bounced back (dropped it or went for it and missed) you had to run to the wall before someone else could grab the ball and throw it at the wall. If you couldnt, you stood against the wall (Facing it) and you had a tennis ball thrown at your ass.

By: drewmcd621

drewmcd621 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:07:04 +0000

We used to play like this too this way you either need fast hands or fast feet

By: drewmcd621

drewmcd621 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:03:42 +0000

Fire ball:
throw tennis ball at wall catch with one hand off the bounce,
if you miss a catch you get to stand against the wall and be pelted!

Best game ever

By: Stick

Stick — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:58:34 +0000

Where we played it, there was no windows and nothing back there. Everyone knew it was the wall we played it on but this girl used to run across every damn day and cry if she got so much as knicked on the leg.

Did anyone called this SUEY sometimes? We used to call it that but by the end of grade school it was just WALLBALL.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:31:24 +0000

Yeah, that was Buttball back where I come from. If you were “out” you took a letter, and if you spelled BUTTBALL you had to get up against the wall while all the other players got a shot at you.

‘Twas a vicious game.

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:15:50 +0000

We called it Red Ass.

Usually played with a tennis ball, basic rules. If you dropped or touched the ball with out catching it, had to run to the wall. If the ball beat you there, you got a letter. When you spelled ‘Red Ass’ you were dropped from the games. Last one standing was the winner.

Suffice to say, due to the length of the word we used, hardly anyone every got ‘out’. I think we just liked running after the ball.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:48:02 +0000

Those are exactly the same rules we played at my school!

By: Obi-Watt Kenobi

Obi-Watt Kenobi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:31:48 +0000

We called this “Handball” but apparently that’s a totally different game

By: Obi-Watt Kenobi

Obi-Watt Kenobi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:31:10 +0000

We called that “Butt’s Up.” I don’t know why, we just did

By: lolMiel

lolMiel — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:36:17 +0000

I think we called it “walley ball” too. I don’t remember too much about it, except that there were different names for all the different hits. A “Straight A” was when you hit it against the wall without bouncing. A “Waterfall” was when it bounced up and down between the ground and the edge of the roof.